Summary:

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the Shanghai municipal government have announced that a global teacher education centre will be established in Shanghai. The centre is intended to be "a service provider, standard setter, and a research and resource management centre in the field of teacher education", with aims to conduct research in basic education and teacher education; to conduct training for teacher educators, and to provide professional services for countries around the world including developing countries in Asia and Africa.

The teacher education centre, which will open in 2018, will be UNESCO's 94th Category 2 Centre and its 12th in the education field. UNESCO already has two existing Category 2 education centres in China: the International Research and Training Centre for Rural Education in Beijing and the International Centre for Higher Education Innovation in Shenzhen.

News reports discussing the new teacher education centre have noted Shanghai's strong reputation in basic education. Students from Shanghai topped the world in the 2012 PISA assessment (although China performed less successfully in the most recent assessment which included a wider variety of cities), while the OECD's Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) assessment rated Shanghai among the worldwide leaders in terms of teachers' participation in training and professional development.

Analysis by Kevin Prest:

Although there will be limited direct opportunities for UK institutions to work with this centre, its establishment is an example of the Chinese government's aim to increase its influence on the world stage and become a leader rather than a follower. Other examples of this policy in the education sector involve the country's ambitious aims to increase international student recruitment, as well as its cooperation with the UK on mathematics teacher training with 70 UK teachers visiting Shanghai earlier in 2017 to learn about the teaching methods used in Chinese schools.

Sources:

1. Shanghai gets center for teacher training (China Daily): http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2017-11/08/content_34261120.htm

2. Details of the draft agreement between UNESCO and the Shanghai municipal government: https://en.unesco.org/sites/default/files/unesco-teacher_education_center-shanghai-draft_agreement.pdf

3. British maths teachers enter Shanghai classrooms to study learning techniques (South China Morning Post): http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2111844/british-maths-teachers-enter-shanghai-classrooms-study-world